A Touch of Moonlight
by freudianprincess
Summary: Remus Lupin and Lea Orpington have been best friends since their first year at Hogwarts. When Lea is involved in a tragic accident, Remus blames himself, and distances himself from the one he came to love. When he returns to Hogwarts to teach, he must face his demons, and stop blaming himself for things that were out of his control.


**Hello! While I have been having writer's block for my story ****_Radioactive, _****I have been brainstorming this story! I don't have a beta, but I have been trying to catch all of my spelling and grammar mistakes. This story is dedicated to the lovely Arabella "Ellie" MacMillan (no it's not her real name so you can't stalk her) who has been helping catch my silly mistake and informing me when things don;t make sense. Anyway, without further ado, I give you ****A Touch of Moonlight.**

Chapter One

"Remmy!"

Seventeen year old Remus Lupin turned around in circles on the platform, trying to find the source of the female voice he knew so well. When he finally spotted the head of onyx hair, he only had moments to drop his bags to the ground before the petite body of his best friend collided with his in a long overdue hug. Wrapping his arms around the petite girl's waist, he lifted her into the air and spun her around in a circle, not caring about the scene they were making.

"My dearest, Leabelle!" Remus said with joy, using the nickname he had given her their first year of schooling at Hogwarts. The girl tried to wriggle free of his arms and Remus chuckled at her futile attempts to break free.

"Remus John Lupin, you put me down this instant!" she demanded, but her giggles ruined any attempt at being serious.

"Or what? What could you possibly do to me... Eleanor?"

At the use of her given name, Remus felt a sharp kick to his groin causing him to release the girl into an unceremonious heap on top of their bags. Atop the pile of their belongings, the girl shot a glare at Remus who had double over in pain. She opened her mouth to berate him, but before she could get any words out, she was cut off by the arrival of another person.

"Oi! Moony! Why'd you throw my darling cousin, Lea, on the ground?" came the voice of James Potter and he dropped his trunk next to Lea who was still on the floor.

"She kicked me!" Remus exclaimed, gesturing to his groin.

James let out a roar of a laugh, "Mate, did you pick her up again?" When James saw the face Remus made in affirmation, he only laughed harder.

Lea was still on top of the luggage pile as she watched the exchange happening between the two. "Ahem..." she cleared her throat, "Do you think you could help a girl up, James?" she asked as she held her hand out, waiting for assistance.

"Sure, point one out for me!" he joked with her and her face grew red with anger. "Relax, Lea, it was only a joke!" he said as he reached out to take her hand. Before he knew it, James found himself collapsed on the pile next to Lea who had taken advantage of his unsuspecting demeanor.

"Where's Sirius?" Remus asked James as he helped Lea to her feet. She narrowed her sapphire eyes at him which only caused him to smile, his warm green eyes melting away her anger. With a sigh, Lea returned a small smile, her dimples appearing amidst her freckled cheeks.

"He went to go find his brother. Although he didn't say why..." James responded as he grabbed his trunk.

Remus and Lea grabbed their things from the ground and began making their way to the crimson train alongside James. Before they reached the train, however, Lea stopped in her tracks. Noticing her sudden disappearance from his side, Remus nudged James as he turned around to look at Lea.

"What's the matter?" he asked her.

"It's just weird thinking that we are about to board the train for our last year of school." she responded as she gazed at Hogwarts Express.

"Now now... no need to get all sentimental on me." Remus said as he wrapped on arm around Lea's shoulders and guided her toward the train.

Once they placed their trunks on the luggage racks, the trio began making their way down the train, looking for either an empty compartment or one with familiar faces. They had made it halfway down the train before a familiar head of shaggy black hair emerged from one of the compartments. Sirius's face lit up as he saw his friends approaching.

"I was wondering where you lot were! Come on, I've got us a compartment!" he said as the trio approached the compartment.

As they entered into the compartment, James sat next to his best friend, after throwing his smaller bag up on the shelf above their heads, and proceeded to talk Quidditch strategies. Lea reached up to place her bag alongside James's but was struggling because she was nowhere near as tall as her cousin. She felt a hand at the small of her back as Remus took her bag in one hand and placed it easily upon the shelf. Lea shuddered at the feeling of his closeness; she had never had a reaction to his touch like that before, what could have changed over the summer?

"Thanks, Remmy." Lea said with a soft smile as she sat on the seat across from James and Sirius and folded her legs beneath her.

"Anytime, Leabelle." he returned her smile, taking the seat next to her and, stretching his legs out in front of him, joined in on the other boy's conversation.

Lea sat in silence, mulling over her earlier reaction to Remus's touch. In her seven years of knowing him, she had never felt a reaction whenever he had placed a hand on her like that. Her train of thought skipped back to when they had first met on the train when they were eleven. She remembered how frightened Remus was when she and James approached his compartment and asked if they could join him.

James was very loud and boisterous as a kid and Lea couldn't help but to feel bad for the eleven year old Remus, who was pale and bore many scars. He seemed so sickly then and had often ended up in the hospital wing once a month. Many times she had wanted to ask him what was wrong, but, unlike her ever curious cousin, she kept her questions to herself. After her second year of school, she knew the boys, along with their friend Peter who was absent from the compartment, shared a secret that seemed to draw them together, and Lea was jealous. She had frequently asked James and Remus to be let in on the secret, but every time they told her that it was strictly between the guys.

Remus had seen how sad she looked when none of them would share their secret with her, so one night, at the beginning of their third year, he offered to create his own personal secret with Lea. They had created a secret pact that whenever one got married, the other would have to wear a bright yellow outfit; the more ridiculous, the better. Thinking back , Lea realized how childish it sounded, but she like the fact that it was something special she could share with Remus.

Lea felt a sharp jabbing at her side and snapped out of her reverie. Remus was poking Lea in the side with his wand. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"We have been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes, Lea. Where were you in the pretty little head of yours?" Remus informed her as he pocketed his wand once again.

"Shove it, Remmy." she said and Remus held his hands up in surrender.

"We were asking for your input on how James should approach Lily this year. After all, he is Head Boy this year, so he has a certain advantage, right?" Sirius stated.

"Oh, James, still? Can't you see the poor girl is not interested?" Lea asked with a roll of her eyes. She felt bad for the Evans girl for having to put up with her cousins advances since third year.

"Lea... _Pleaseeeeee..._" James pleaded with her, clasping his hands in front of his face before kneeling on the ground in front of her.

"Oh, get up you great oaf!" Lea said in annoyance as she pushed her cousin back into his seat. With a sigh she added, "I suppose actually being Head Boy is a step in the right direction. I would advise that you actually take your duties seriously though... don't pass your duties off onto others."

"Yes, Sir!" James responded with a salute.

Lea rolled her eyes at her cousin's antics before continuing, "I would also consider toning down the pranks..." At this, James and Sirius both made exaggerated gasps.

Placing his right hand on his chest over, James pretended to be steadying his heart before responding. "As much as it pains me to do so, I accept that I must" he paused to take a deep breath, "limit my extracurricular pranktivities... on account of love."He concluded in what sounded like a pained voice.

"No, James! Don't do it! It's a trap! Before you know it you will be holding purses and..."

"Oh, cut the dramatics you two, it's not the end of the world if..."Lea cut Sirius off but before she could finish her own thought, the door to the compartment slid open.

"I hope I'm not intruding..." spoke the polite voice of Lily Evans.

"Not at all!" James exclaimed almost too enthusiastically and Lea quirked her eyebrow and her cousins behavior.

Lily gave James an unreadable glance before continuing. "Alright summer boys? Eleanor?"

Lea cringed at the use of her full name, but nodded anyway. The boys did the same, oddly quiet for the lot of them. An awkward silence settled over the compartment before Lily finally spoke up again.

"Anyway, James, I was wondering if I might speak with you in private about our duties as Head Boy and Girl?"

"Er... yeah." He responded ruffling the hair on the back of his head. He glanced at Lea, silently begging her to give him an idea of what to do next. Lea widened her eyes and gestured for him to follow Lily with her head. He stood up and followed Lily out of the compartment, sliding the door shut behind him.

After James had left, Remus and Sirius began to chat idly about their summers as Lea laid down, placing her head on Remus's lap and stretched across the seat. Remus began to absentmindedly stroke Lea's pin straight hair and she started to drift off to sleep. She didn't know how long she had been asleep, but she had awoken to the sound of the compartment door being thrown open.

"Quick, Potter is about to take on Snape and Avery on his own!" the random student shouted, pointing somewhere down the train.

Within an instant, Lea was on her feet and running out of the compartment, the other two hot on her heels. As they neared the scene, they had to push students out of their way in the narrow train corridor. When they had finally reached the clearing, she saw her cousin with his wand pointed at the two offending Slytherins. Sirius and Remus also pulled out their wands and aimed at the other two boys. Lily was cowering behind James, his arm held out in a protective manner behind him.

"Well, will you look at who has decided to join the party, Avery." sneered Snape as Lea placed herself between the two groupings of boys. "If it isn't the _Marauders_, and their little... plaything."

Lea narrowed her eyes before addressing the Gryffindor boys behind her. "Lower your wands." she instructed.

"Not with theirs raised at us!" James exclaimed. "They were harassing Lily! They deserve what is coming to them!"

"James, you are Head Boy... Act like it!" Lea responded as she tried to push James's wand down. Reluctantly, James lowered his wand with a sigh, and the others followed suit.

"Lets go." Lea guided boys, pushing them backwards back to their compartment.

"That's it! Run away!" Avery hollered after them. "Gryffindor cowards..." he continued as he raised his wand and pointed it at Lea's back.

"Lea! Look out!" Remus shouted as he pushed his way around her just as Avery's spell struck him in the leg. There was a sickening crunch as Remus collapsed to the ground, grasping at his leg in pain. Without hesitation, Lea whipped out her wand and turned it on Avery.

"_Expelliarmus!" _she said disarming Avery as she walked toward him and jammed her wand into his neck. "I would suggest you leave now before I hurt you." she threatened; her nostrils flaring with anger. When she removed her wand from his neck, Avery let out a huff before heading off in the opposite direction. Snape, who had been standing in the background watching the entire scene play out, followed after him.

When Lea heard Remus let out another groan, she turned back around to see the other two boys and Lily huddled around him. She fell to her knees next to Remus and began examining him for other injuries.

"His leg is broken..." Lily stated pointing out the obvious. "I'm afraid I don't have anything to mend it."

Lea ignored Lily as she pointed her wand at Remus's leg. "_Ferula." _she cast as Remus's leg was splinted and bound.

"Thanks. I need to remember that one." Remus said as the other two boys helped him stand on his one good leg.

Lea remained silent as the boys led the way back to their compartment, Lily followed close behind them. When they finally reached it, the boys set Remus down on the bench, helping him to lift his leg up to rest upon it. Lily informed the group that she was going to go ask the conductor how much longer they had until they arrived at the station. James offered to accompany her, leaving Sirius alone with Lea and Remus.

"You okay, Moony?" Sirius asked Remus as he plopped on the bench next to him.

Lea took a seat across from the boys, still not having said a word since threatening Avery. She had never been one to threaten harm on another, but something came over her and she snapped. Looking out the window, Lea lost herself in her thoughts until she felt someone grab her hand. Shaking her head to bring her back to the present, Lea looked into the concerned eyes of Remus.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked with a small smile.

Lea returned the small smile before responding, "I just can't get over the fact that this is our final year at Hogwarts. What's going to happen once it's all over?" she lied. Both Sirius and Remus shared a look with each other. They both knew that Lea was lying, but neither wanted to push her into talking about something if she wasn't ready to yet.

"I guess we will have to wait and see, won't we?" Remus said with a slight squeeze of her hand before releasing it.

James and Lily returned to the compartment informing the other three that they were not far from the castle. The short rest of the ride to Hogwarts was spent discussing classes, events, and Quidditch; Lea had even piped in every once and awhile. Everyone had noticed the change in her mood, but no one dared to ask, and Lea was relieved. This was bound to be an interesting final year at Hogwarts.


End file.
